Chapter 12 - ROOM 317
Room 317 did not appear on St. Orison’s official floor plan.
The third floor contained only rooms 301 through 316.
Ortiz returned to the abandoned hospital with Claire, Dr. Patel, and a tactical team.
Claire’s condition had stabilized, but Dr. Patel insisted on traveling with emergency equipment.
“You are not entering any unsecured area,” she told Claire.
“I understand.”
“You have said that before.”
“This time I’ll sound more convincing.”
Despite everything, Dr. Patel almost smiled.
The group reached St. Orison near dusk.
The building stood behind rusted gates and overgrown trees. Broken windows reflected the orange sky.
Inside, the corridors smelled of mold, chemical cleaner, and old smoke.
Ortiz led them to the third floor.
Between Rooms 316 and the stairwell was a section of wall covered by newer plaster.
The blue key fit a hidden lock beneath the handrail.
A narrow panel opened.
Behind it was a corridor.
Room 317 stood at the end.
Claire felt pressure behind her eyes as she approached.
A memory surfaced.
She was younger.
Barefoot.
Daniel was pulling her down the corridor.
A baby cried behind the door.
Then the image vanished.
Ortiz unlocked Room 317.
The room resembled a nursery and laboratory combined.
A hospital bed stood near the wall. A crib sat beneath a covered window. Cabinets contained medical equipment sealed in plastic.
On the far wall was a painted garden filled with lilies.
Claire stepped inside.
“I’ve been here.”
Dr. Patel watched her carefully.
“What do you remember?”
“Rain. A baby. Daniel bleeding.”
Ortiz searched the cabinets.
One contained videotapes labeled by date.
The date on the first tape matched the week of Claire’s unexplained illness nine years earlier.
They played it on an old monitor.
Claire appeared on the hospital bed, heavily pregnant.
Amelia stood beside her.
She was alive.
Young Daniel entered carrying medical supplies.
Amelia said, “They found the airfield. We have less than an hour.”
Claire on the recording struggled to sit up.
“Take the baby.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You have to.”
Daniel approached.
“I can get both of you out.”
The door opened behind him.
Another young man entered.
He looked almost identical to Daniel.
His expression was blank.
He raised a syringe.
The tape jumped forward.
Claire was unconscious.
A newborn cried inside the crib.
Evelyn entered and lifted the baby.
Amelia attacked her.
The blank-eyed Daniel restrained Amelia while the other Daniel attempted to reach the crib.
Gideon Vale entered last.
He looked directly toward the camera.
“D-4 remains emotionally compromised,” he said. “D-3 will replace him.”
Claire stared at the two men.
Her husband’s identity had become impossible to determine.
The recording continued.
Vale looked at the newborn.
“The first viable convergence.”
Evelyn asked, “Will the child resist?”
“We will know after conditioning.”
Amelia screamed at them.
Vale ordered the memory procedure performed on Claire.
The tape ended.
Ortiz found another recording dated three days later.
Claire was awake but confused.
D-3 sat beside her bed.
He spoke gently.
“You became sick during the trip.”
“Where is Daniel?”
“I am Daniel.”
“No.”
He touched her face.
“You don’t remember me yet.”
Claire backed away from the monitor.
“My husband could be D-3.”
“Or D-4,” Ortiz said.
“How do we tell them apart?”
Dr. Patel pointed at the recording.
“D-4 was injured.”
They replayed the earlier tape.
During the struggle, D-4’s shoulder struck a metal cart. A surgical instrument cut a long line across his upper back.
Claire remembered a scar.
Daniel had one.
A pale diagonal mark running from his left shoulder to the center of his back.
She had asked him about it during their honeymoon.
He said it came from a childhood bicycle accident.
Claire exhaled.
“My husband is D-4.”
Ortiz considered it.
“Unless the scar was recreated.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Even proof could be manufactured.
A sound came from the crib.
Everyone turned.
The crib was empty.
But beneath the mattress, a phone had begun ringing.
Ortiz answered on speaker.
A child whispered, “Mother?”
Claire stepped closer.
“Rose?”
“You found the room.”
“Where are you?”
“With the empty Daddy.”
Claire gripped the crib rail.
“Is Daniel there?”
“The kind one is hurt.”
“Where?”
“I can’t say. He can hear me.”
A man’s voice spoke in the background.
“Rose, end the call.”
Claire recognized Daniel’s voice.
But she did not know which Daniel it belonged to.
“Rose, look at his back,” Claire said quickly. “Does he have a scar?”
Silence.
May you like
Then Rose whispered, “No.”
The line went dead.
